Palestinians in kite record bid

Thousands of Palestinian children turned out for the record bid Enlarge Image

Palestinian children turned out in big numbers on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip in an attempt to break the world record for kite flying.

More than 6,000 children gathered to fly more than 3,000 kites, according to the United Nations, which organised it.

The previous record was set in Germany last year - when the Guinness Book of World Records says 967 kites took to the sky simultaneously.

Guinness says it has received an application from Gaza for inclusion.

The organisation did not send a judge to Gaza.

But Karolina Thelin, a spokeswoman, said there were other ways of verifying the feat.

The UN agency UNRWA says the Gaza children smashed the existing record, and a final tally of the number of kites flown will be released on Saturday.

A UN spokesman said: "The symbolism of thousands of children, in one of the world's most locked-up communities, creating beautiful kites, letting them soar upward, is truly beautiful."

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John Ging of UNRWA said the challenge was "an expression of the demand for liberty from these children"